Vol 75, No 4 (2025)

The key role of the kidneys in the physico-chemical analysis of human blood serum and it’s the automatic answer by secretion of physiologically active substances to maintain homeostasis, which is necessary for effective brain activity, is substantiated. A new unconditioned reflex is characterized that promotes homeostasis and ensures rapid restoration of blood serum composition after drinking liquids and eating food.

The article presents results of the analysis of the most informative brain regions for diagnosing schizophrenia based on resting-state functional MRI data using method of functionally homogeneous regions (FHR) previously developed by the authors and the CONN functional atlas. The analysis was performed using fMRI data from 32 subjects diagnosed with schizophrenia and 36 subjects from the control group obtained on Siemens tomograph. Data from 19 subjects diagnosed with schizophrenia and 29 subjects from the control group obtained on General Electric MRI scanner were used for verification. Eight most informative regions were identified. The analysis of the identified regions showed that changing the composition of the training group significantly affects the list of the most significant regions. At the same time the analysis of the identified most significant regions for repeatability with varying the composition of subjects showed that out of the eight identified most significant regions, four have repeatability higher than 70%, two have repeatability from 50% to 70%, and two have repeatability from 30% to 50%. This may indicate that the identified regions are not random and opens up prospects for further in-depth analysis and determination of their significance in diagnosing schizophrenia. Verification carried out on data from General Electric MRI scanner partially confirmed the heightened importance of the identified regions for the classification of schizophrenia pathology, but no perfect match was achieved on datasets from different MRI scanners.

From the standpoint of the system-evolutionary approach we analyzed the regional specificity of brain support of behavior when solving the task of distinguishing short time intervals. The “Yes-No” task for distinguishing short time intervals was used (N = 10 who learned to distinguish short time intervals). When analyzing 19 scalp electrodes of EEG by methods of cluster and factor analysis, 2 groups of electrodes were formed: frontal-central and parietal-occipital. The general configuration of the selected components of the ERP is shown, which is consistent with the ideas of the general cerebral character of behavior. The differences between the groups of electrodes consisted in amplitude-temporal characteristics. In this connection, the systemic psychophysiological significance of the regional specificity of brain processes is discussed.

Trace amines and their receptors, in particular TAAR9, can act as potential regulators of the mechanisms of compulsivity and impulsivity, as addictive manifestations of behavior. The aim of this work was to evaluate the impulsive and compulsive components of the behavioral phenotype of rats with TAAR9 gene knockout. The assessment of impulsive behavioral elements was performed using the adapted Iowa Gambling Task (IGT). TAAR9-KO rats did not differ from wild-type rats in the IGT test and equally preferred the option associated with the greatest reward. The marble burying test was used to assess the compulsive component of behavior. The TAAR9-KO group demonstrated an increase in compulsive-like behavior compared to the control in the marble burying test. Thus, TAAR9-knockout rats demonstrate prerequisites for increased compulsive behavior, which is associated with the development of elements of gambling addiction.

The aim of the work was to find out whether prolonged housing in an enriched environment is able to reduce the negative effects of early proinflammatory stress on the social behavior of adult male rats. On the 3rd and 5th postnatal days (PND), the rats were injected with either lipopolysaccharide at a dose of 50 mcg/kg (LPS group) or saline solution (SAL group). Starting from 30 PND and until the end of the experiments, one part of the rats lived in an enriched environment (EE), and the other in standard conditions (STD). Testing of pairs of rats in the social dominance tube test revealed a lower number of victories in the SAL and LPS groups when contained in the OS than in similar groups of rats under STD conditions. The dominant properties of males of the LPS group in SAL-LPS pairs weakened under the influence of EE. In the resident intruder test, the number of aggressive attacks, offensive uprights, sexual attacks, and the time of intruder persecution decreased in males of the LPS group when kept in the EE, while the number of attacks increased in rats of the SAL group, on the contrary. Analysis of cytokine gene expression in SAL rats, but not in the LPS group, showed an increase in the expression of anti-inflammatory cytokine TGF-beta1 mRNA in the dorsal hippocampus, amygdala and proinflammatory cytokine IL-1beta in the prefrontal cortex after housing in the EE. Thus, the housing in the EE had a beneficial effect on the behavior of the rats of the LPS group, reducing the dominant properties and aggressive behavior.

A typo is reported in the article by V. Yu. Skryabin (Russian Medical Academy of Continuous Professional Education of the Ministry of Healthcare of the Russian Federation, Moscow, Russia, e-mail: sardonios@yandex.ru) «BRAIN MECHANISMS OF JAZZ IMPROVISATION» (I.P. Pavlov Journal of Higher Nervous Activity. 2025, №1, V. 75, pp. 15–23; DOI: 10.31857/S0044467725010025).